A Little Bit of Lately

I'm going to take a little break from playing catch up and document what has been happening here more recently.... 

{Disclaimer: Some photos -the ones taken by my phone- are not great quality but I'm still happy to have them just the same.}

Our yard is now somewhat respectable.

I can't take credit for doing it, but I did hire it, as sheepish as that makes me feel. The bushes are trimmed, flowerbeds weeded and actually have flowers planted in them, too!

This is not a photo of my yard, but this was the source of my motivation to get the yard cleaned up a bit now that the tulips were long-dead and there was NO color in my yard.

My neighbor Dick keeps his yard beautifully manicured with gorgeous flowers and other growing things. You can't see what this sign says, (cell phones...darn!) but it's a beautification award given to him by the city.

It was time for me to step up my game so he and his wife wouldn't be embarrassed to be my neighbor. 

I was early to one of Cade's assemblies the last week of school {I'm never early, so this was quite the rare occasion. It happened by accident-- me thinking it started earlier than it actually did} The girls played on the playground together for a while before we went in. They had a blast.  I so want to be early to things more often!

Savvy is growing in her independence.
Savannah reminds me so much of myself as a child in many, many ways. Lately she's been really adamant about wanting to do her own hair. I have to take a deep breath and let her practice-- my own mother did that for me. This is what she came up with the other day, which was quite reminiscent of a hair-style I did on myself that my siblings dubbed "slicked-back rabbit style."

I just read on my friend's blog that when her girls turn 10 they can do their own hair. I am liking that idea. In the mean time on non-school/church days I'll let her explore her independence...and chuckle about it.

Savvy lost a tooth!  

This was kind of sad for me. Cade was an entire year older than Sav when he lost his first one. She was thrilled and has been announcing to everyone, strangers and all that she lost her tooth.

Savannah was so thrilled about her missing tooth she declared we must celebrate. So the next day we had the Jenson's over for dinner and dessert. She really wanted to use 2 of our ripe bananas for a cake so that's what we did. {FYI bananas are better for banana bread. As far as I'm concerned, cakes are meant to be chocolate! But this made her happy and this was her celebration so I smiled and did it anyway.}

Sadly, Savvy's lost tooth got "lost".  It had  broken in half a few minutes after it came out (my guess is Savvy was experimenting with it) and Savvy insisted I glue it back together before she put it under her pillow. She did not want to turn in a faulty tooth. I kept putting it off and finally when I went to glue it back together, it was missing from the kitchen window sill. To say Savvy was devastated was an understatement. I finally convinced her that tooth fairies are very understanding folks and all we needed to do was write her a letter to explain what happened. So we did that. But then the tooth fairy didn't come. So I suggested the next night we need to put the letter in an envelope-- makes it easier for them to carry, you know. 

And she finally came!  Five dollars and a little note congratulating Savvy and telling her the missing tooth was no big deal. And a reminder that only because this was Savvy's first tooth was she being so generous.

Ruby is no longer a baby.

This is sad. In August she will be two. All this growing up seemed to happen overnight. She talks in real words, babbles in her own language, understands when people talk to her...it's amazing! I failed to mention that the second day of swim lessons went far worse than her first day, and for the following 7 or so lessons after that. Ruby screamed, cried and wailed. It was a fight just to get her swim suit on in the morning and she would wail all the way to the lesson and during the lesson. And then all of the sudden on the 9th lesson, she started to realize that no amount of screaming and whining was going to allow her to get her way. I think swim lessons with Pam was great for her on so many more levels than just water safety. It was a great learning experience for Ruby to recognize that whining doesn't allow her to get what she wants, and that being in someone else's care while Mom is watching isn't the end of the world. She began to enjoy the lessons and became much more aware of the dangers of the water and how to float. On top of that, I've finally been able to leave Ruby in nursery without her wailing all the way to the door. She has made some social strides, that girl has! I'm so glad. I will miss the little baby stage, but I'm loving this one, as busy as she is.

 Ruby, when she finally turned her corner: calm as a summer's morn before swimming lessons. AT LAST!

This is Ruby's nest. She goes here to drink her bottles of milk. We find it hilarious.

Ruby loves Cade. Cade loves Ruby. It's a great time.

Sometimes as a parent you do things just because you know it will make your child happy. 

For instance, I was at Costco with the girls. They were handing out chocolate covered nuts. 

I knew this would happen...but I also knew it would make her happy.

So it was okay. 

My little sister almost had her baby. 

At 35 weeks she started having contractions and was dilating. She was not thrilled about being admitted. I had the luxury of my parents staying the night at my house, so I went to visit her.  This is her trying to smile (she was not happy about being there, nor very happy about her nurse that kept telling her she needed to get things moving along.)   She beat the odds and finally got sent home the next day because she wasn't moving past a 5.

Here is Jake who had come to the realization he would not be running in his half marathon the next morning. And he was totally fine and sweet about it. Jake is a gem!

My big sister ran in the half marathon sans Jake.
We got the girls up and went to cheer her on. This is Madre hanging out it the back seat with the girls keeping them happy. She's such an awesome Grandma. 

Here Melody  is running/drafting (bad wind) with a smile on her face!  Running in a pack was smart. Notice the other two fellas drafting? Kind of funny.

A little later.  She is still smiling! (sorry for the fuzzy picture quality)

Mom and Dad with the posters

My dad ran a brief stretch with Melody (a matter of yards--she's hard to keep up with!) and I thought it was adorable so I had to snap a photo.

These are the girl-cousins having fun together while Melody was running the last stretch.
{She placed 2nd behind a professional-sponsored-by-Nike-athlete. Not bad, not bad....}

Ah! They are so cute together. I love it.

Kyle came home!

He dropped in for a long weekend to take Cade on the Fathers and Sons campout. 

Of course what's a homecoming without a suitcase full of East Coast goodies?

This time he filled up on Trader Joes:

Yum.

We were so glad he could come! Then of course, Cade did some pest control for a handful of neighbors with Dad home.

Here Cade is under the sink at the Hawkins':

You can see him better here. He takes his job seriously. He is long-term saving for his mission and short-term saving for Legos. This is a pretty good gig!

Aaaaand....

 I hit a mid-life crisis and chopped my hair off.

Actually this is something I've wanted to do for a long time but have never been brave enough.  

With the marathon over and no longer the needing to put my hair in a pony tail daily, it was time!

I feel liberated. I wonder why I didn't do this years ago!